That would only apply if listening to audio were an objective experience. Isn't listening to audio a subjective experience?
We all have one thing in common though: we all want the best listening
experience possible.
You would think that a USB interconnect between your DAC and computer only carries bits having zero effect on sound quality, but that is not always the case. I think we all agree that not all DACS or USB busses or computers or music severs are created equal. Not to mention everyone having totally different listening environments with varying RF/EMI levels, or lack thereof.
I recall reading a white paper by Apogee (they make Pro studio recording digital equipment) a few years back explaining that for USB audio “speed” is crucial as time relationships within a digital stream are absolutely critical to the reconstruction of the analogue wave form that brings the sound experience into the analogue world. When playing audio, you’re depending on the DAC and the computer’s clock to avoid jitter. But because your DAC is connected to your computer via a cable, the cable itself can have an effect as well.
Time-based damage, jitter, negatively affects the experience of sound by making it sound flat, small, harsh and “foggy”. Yes your DAC, even an inexpensive one, has a USB chip on board that will correct for data loss, but it’s the computer’s and DAC’s internal word clock that must prevent jitter from corrupting the timing. That’s easier said than done and Apogee has even developed an expensive rack-sized device, Big Ben (
http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/big-ben ), a master word clock specifically for the purpose. Big Ben is a word clock that takes care of the jitter when recording audio in recording studios and guess what? It uses a special cable to ensure no jitter is introduced along the way.